In our ongoing efforts to provide a safe, nurturing and inclusive environment for the entire MCS community we have welcomed the recent questions and input from parents on school policies, procedures and administrative practices. The subsequent discussion surrounding vaccinations, infectious diseases, and best practices has yielded much food for thought. This work, in collaboration with interested stakeholders, has helped shape our priorities and inform the revision of policy as well as the creation of targeted interventions that will help keep our students, families and staff healthy and happy.
We invite all MCS Stakeholders to join us for a Townhall this coming Tuesday, October 15 @ 6:00pm in the MCS Gym. The Townhall is intended to inform and engage stakeholders. We invite you to review the below information in preparation for the Town Hall. We also invite you to participate in a poll that will be sent out following the Townhall.
- Please note that our current Immunization Policy has been reworded in our Parent Handbooks to eliminate misinterpretation. The reworded policy can be found here: Elementary Parent Handbook, Toddler & Early Childhood Parent Handbook
- Below you will find three options, two of which would reflect a change to our policy. Please note that a poll will be sent following the Townhall so that our stakeholders have the opportunity to weigh in on which policy they most support.
Option 1 (Current): An up-to-date immunization record or an exemption form must be on file for each child by the child’s first day of attendance at the school. A student is exempt from the requirement to receive a vaccine if the student qualifies for a medical, religious or personal exemption. Documentation of an exemption must be provided to the school upon enrollment. Your child will not be able to attend school until we receive the appropriate documentation.
Option 2: We accept medical exemptions. We do not accept exemptions for personal or religious beliefs. We recognize an individual’s right to choose and we respect religious beliefs. This policy reflects our responsibility to protect the health and safety of our students, staff and their families.
Option 3: Exemptions for personal or religious beliefs will be evaluated on a case by case basis. The health and safety of our community is a responsibility we take very seriously. Approved exemptions will be re-evaluated if a member of the student or staff member becomes immunocompromised or if there is an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease in Utah.
*Regardless of the policy chosen, current students or staff with an exemption will be grandfathered in to our program.
- Our policy for staff immunization is under review.
- In preparation for submitting our Annual Immunization Assessment Report our audit of student records has revealed that we currently have 1.4% of our total enrollment with a status of personal exemption. This is a revised number from our previous findings. Parents with children in the classrooms of students with personal exemptions have been notified via email.
- One targeted intervention of recent Committee Meetings held with some MCS parents and staff is implementation of a new policy, Infection Control Protocol, which will be added to our Parent and Staff Handbooks and implemented immediately:
Contagious disease and infection can spread rapidly in the school setting. This can have a wide-spread impact on our school community; affecting students, families and staff. When there is good cause to believe circumstances warrant it, the school may implement higher than normal health and safety protocol to limit the transmission of the disease or infection.
In such cases, our administration will consult with a Health and Safety Advisory Committee, which consists of MCS parents who are medical professionals, MCS staff/teachers, and other volunteer parents. This advisory committee will help the school administration determine appropriate measures to implement for a short time to safeguard the health or safety of our community. Enactment of an Infection Control Protocol would be communicated via our school wide emergency notification system. The details of the specific measures being implemented will be dependant upon the nature of the illness.
- Some MCS parents have already been invited to participate on the Health and Safety Advisory Committee. Along with advising MCS administration in regards to best practices for minimizing the spread of infectious illness, this committee will be invited to otherwise educate our community of best practices in regards to health and safety (example: writing educational blog posts, presenting at Parent Education events, etc.) If you are interested in participating, please indicate so on the poll sent following the Townhall.
- Ramira Alamilla, our Director of Admissions and Accreditation, will be reporting on updates about our Accreditation Process during the Townhall. Ramira will introduce our intention for creating a Strategic Plan Council and will summarize our findings from the self-study so far. A summary of the self-study can be read in detail here. We thank those who have contributed to this process to date and look forward to the participation of our stakeholders as we move forward in the accreditation process and as we set goals for the school’s improvement in the futur
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